If The World Could Vote

[Cicero]

Heidelberg. Full stop.

Asian -- yes. Jewish -- yes. Muslim -- oh yeah, definitely. German -- yes, of course. French -- yes. Italian -- yes. Spanish -- yes. Black -- oh yeah, plenty of people straight from Africa. Indian -- yes, actually. I saw a band playing recently that were Native American; not sure if they lived in Heidelberg, though. It kinda makes sense that there would be more Native Americans in America, though. If you mean "Indian" from India, though... yes, definitely.

Also add in:

Hungarian, Bulgarian, Tunisian, Iranian, Arabic, American, English (from England), South American, Greece...

Need I go on?

In fact, I was taught under a greek instructor, born to parents from Greece, in Heidelberg (I believe).

Furthermore, Heidelberg, Eppelheim, and the several small villages are all close enough together to qualify for the small amount of space you mention above. Not only that, but it's also not all one big city, which speaks even more for all the different cultures -- after all, with a large enough population in one place, you'll see SOME kind of mixture.
.

This is astounding considering Germany's non EU citizen Immigration Laws. I guess the Greek made it into Germany after 1981?

http://www.workpermit.com/germany/employer1.htm

How come the U.S. doesn't have the same German law that requires all entrants to pass a language fluency exam before taking up residency?

It sure seems that being considered a German in Germany is not extended to immigrants, no matter how many bureaucratic hoops they jump through.

***.."Most Germans do not see their country as a land of immigration like the United States or Canada, and no demographic or social issue has generated greater controversy than the presence of foreigners in the Federal Republic. In an opinion poll taken in 1982, two-thirds of West Germans said that there were too many foreigners in Germany, and one-half thought that foreigners should be sent back to their countries of origin. In 1992 another poll found that the "foreigner problem" ranked as the most serious issue for western Germans and was third in importance for eastern Germans.

According to the foreigners law that went into effect in mid-1993, foreigners living in Germany for fifteen years may become German citizens if they have no criminal record and renounce their original citizenship. Young foreigners who have resided eight years in Germany may become citizens if they have attended German schools for six years and apply for citizenship between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three. Usually, however, German citizenship depends not on where one is born (ius solis) but on the nationality of the father or, since 1974, on the mother (ius sanguinis). Thus, to many, German citizenship depends on being born German and cannot rightfully be acquired through a legal process. This notion makes it practically impossible for naturalized citizens or their children to be considered German. Some reformers advocate eliminating the concept of German blood in the 1913 law regulating citizenship, but the issue is an emotional one, and such a change has little popular support."..***

http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/facts/bl_immigration1.htm

 

[Lonewulf]

Actually, yes. They are cracking down in immigration legally. There's a reason for that, actually.

It's hard enough for local germans to get jobs, and the unemployment rate is rather high here.

But you seem to be implying that no one wants to come to Germany -- that they don't want to come here, as opposed to the U.S., I suppose because they're evil or something. You seem to miss that people WANT to come here, they just find it hard to -- many countries in the EU are actually starting to crack down on immigration, some harder than others in recent years. This has nothing to do with WANT to go, nor does it have to do with people that actually LIVE here. You may be surprised, but a lot of the different people you talk about in New York? Many of them immigrated a long time ago, not within the past two decades. Big surprise for someone as closed as you are, I know.

Either you're changing the goalposts or you're being dishonest (or both). Or, perhaps, you're just trying to spread your bigotry with "The Other" as much as you possibly can, and will grasp at straws to do it.

You make me sick.